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| Manufacturer | Citroën |
|---|---|
| Production | 1968—1988 |
| Class | Off-roader |
| Body style | Cabriolet |
| Layout | Front engine, front-wheel drive / four-wheel drive |
| Engine | 602 cc flat-2 |
| Related | Citroën 2CV Citroën Dyane Citroën FAF Citroën Ami Citroën Bijou |
The Citroën Méhari is a utility car and off-roader produced by the French automaker Citroën. 144,953 Méharis were built between 1968 and 1988. A Méhari is a type of fast-running dromedary camel, which can be used for racing or transport. A Méhariste was a French Armée d'Afrique and Army of the Levant cavalryman that used these camels.
The Méhari was based on the Citroën Dyane 6, and had a body made of ABS plastic with a soft-top. It also employed the 602 cc flat twin gasoline engine shared with the 2CV6 and Citroën Ami. A four-wheel drive version of the Méhari was produced from 1980 to 1983 and had excellent off-road qualities, due to the lightness of the vehicle (the standard Méhari weighs just 570 kg (1,300 lb)) and the interconnected fully independent long-travel 2CV suspension used by all of the Citroën 'A-Series' vehicles. For a full description of the suspension, see Citroën 2CV.
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The French Army used Méharis modified to have 24 V electric power.
The Citroën Méhari also was in service with the Irish Defence Forces and had a total of 12 machines purchased in the late 1970s, most were sold at auction about 1985, but one is retained at the DFTC in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare, Ireland.
May 23, 1979 , Citroën launched the "Mehari 4x4". The body is distinguished by its spare wheel mounted on the specially designed bonnet, its additional bumpers, front and rear, its flared wheel arches (for 1982), big optional tires (for 1982) and its tail lights similar to the Citroën Acadiane van. The 4x4 version has a gearbox with 4 normal speeds and a 3 speed transfer gearbox for crossing slopes up to 60%. At the time, the Mehari 4x4 is one of the few 4x4s with four-wheel independent suspension. The rear brakes are disc.
Mehari 4x4 production stopped in late June 1983.
With only about 1,300 vehicles produced, it is now highly sought after and transmission parts are virtually unobtainable.
The Méhari was sold in the United States for one year, 1970, where the vehicle was classified as a truck. As trucks had far more lenient National Highway Traffic Safety Administration safety standards than passenger cars in the US, the Méhari did not have seat belts. Only 214 Méharis were sold in 1970.
Distinctions for the US-model included:
The Mehari sold in Argentina had a fibreglass body and not ABS. The car was produced in Uruguay from 1971 to 1979. After Citroën left Argentina following the collapse of the economy in the late 1970s, the production of the Mehari, renamed the "Mehari Ranger" with flared wheel arches and big tires, continued for some time.
The colour was integrated into the ABS plastic material in production, and as a utilitarian vehicle, the options chart was quite limited. Only the Vert Montana remained in the catalogue for all the 18 years of production. Except for Azur blue, the official names of colours all refer to desert regions.
New bodies for restorations are only supplied in white colour, and now require painting on top of a specialist primer.
| Colour | 1968 - 1969 | 1969 - 1975 | 1976 - 1977 | 1978 - 1979 | 1980 - 1982 | 1983 - 1987 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rouge Hopi | ||||||
| Vert Tibesti | ||||||
| Vert Montana | ||||||
| Orange Kirghiz | ||||||
| Beige Kalahari | ||||||
| Beige Hoggar | ||||||
| Jaune Atacama | ||||||
| Blanc et bleu (Azur) |
Vert Tibesti
Blanc et bleu (Azur)
Orange Kirghiz
Beige Hoggar
Jaune Atacama
Rouge Hopi
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Citroën Méhari |
| Automobiles Citroën, a subsidiary of the PSA Peugeot Citroën since 1976, car timeline, 1950s–1970s — next » | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |||||||||||
| Economy car | 2CV | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Off-roader | Méhari | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Supermini | LN / LNA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dyane | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ami | Visa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Small family car | GS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Large family car | 11 CV | ID / DSpécial / DSuper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Executive car | 15 CV | DS | CX | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grand tourer | SM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The contents of this page are derived from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citroen_Mehari>
Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;
additional terms may apply.
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